Uncovering configurations of HRM service provider intellectual capital and worker human capital for creating high HRM service value using fsQCA

Although traditionally applied independently, this study combines two theoretical perspectives - the intellectual capital theory and the consumer perspective - to uncover value-creating configurations of human resource management (HRM) service providers' and workers' knowledge resources. We examined workers' perceptions of the value of provided HRM services using data from a sample of more than 2000 workers and the HR professionals that serve them. Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis techniques, we found that the HRM provider's intellectual capital is a necessary, but not always sufficient, condition for high HRM service value. Further, our results show that workers can fulfil a 'substitute for competence role' when they rely on their own well-developed knowledge and skills to substitute for HRM professional inabilities. Accordingly, this study highlights the need for studying value co-creation in HRM research, that is, how both HR professionals' and workers' attributes and actions interrelate for explaining the outcomes of HRM services.